@ehales3 - Would love to hear your thoughts about the community surrounding Cornell - both off campus and campus community. Lots of talks around our house and the feeling it is too remote, but also very beautiful. How often do students go to town - does it feel like a town or bigger. With the option of visiting very limited, if at all, would appreciate your thoughts. My daughter had a visit planned in late February and it was cancelled due to Covid - we are from the West Coast, so we can’t do a quick road trip either 
Cornell has a great video on their website with different students and touring the school (best one we have seen to date)- but nothing beats a visit. Thank you for your time.
@caitlinn927,
This is a tricky question because I don’t know too much about you. Personally, I chose Cornell for a multitude of reasons that is hard to explain in writing, but to name a few: Cornell has an amazing variety of majors, interdisciplinary major options, diversity rate, and opportunities beyond college. I knew that I had a wide variety of interests in terms of academic learning, and thus finding a school that had those multidisciplinary majors, while still maintaining a reputable and rigorous program, was important to me. I’m majoring in bsoc which combines bio, anthro, soc, psych, history, etc. that is all very interesting to me, but I’m also thinking of possibly double majoring in chemistry (a more traditional major) to strengthen my knowledge in science in preparation for med school. All of this is possible at Cornell, which is such an amazing thing! Schools like HumEc, Hotel, and even CALS and ILR to some extent are such niche schools that make Cornell unique, and if the areas of study in these schools are of interest you, then you should consider applying for sure. Fit is important!
On a similar note, I think that college is a unique place that really allows you to broaden your perspective much more easily than the real world, and thus I wanted to go to a university that had a high diversity rate with emphasis on integration and inclusion, which I think Cornell, while not perfect as this is impossible, tries very hard to cultivate. In terms of opportunities, lots of alumni want to get to know you and help mentor you throughout your career search process. Plenty of people go on to get recruited (finance, CS, etc.) and lots go to med-school, which was also an important factor for me. Shadowing physicians was incredibly easy for me to find through alumni, although this process was halted due to COVID-19.
If you are a NY resident, then going to the contract colleges like CALS, ILR, HumEc, etc. is a really amazing opportunity because you would be getting an Ivy League education at a more affordable price.
Overall, choosing Cornell is only the best choice if it is the best choice for YOU 
Hope this helps!
@tommyshelby,
I think there are threads on CC with a compilation of stats and ECs from many accepted (and rejected, waitlisted) applicants. This may be of more use to you to get a more bigger picture. If you would like to know my stats specifically, please PM me!
@coffeeat3,
I grew up in a small suburban town, so the whole time in high school I wanted to go to a school in the city. However, when I ended up getting into Cornell, I went to the accepted students days and I just knew I wanted to go here. You would think that Cornell would feel very much in a bubble, and while this is true, the bubble is HUGE. You could probably visit a winery far away from central campus and find out that it is somehow related to Cornell lol. Cornell, while in a remote location, is different from other schools in rural places because the campus is very big, and there are many many students. Collegetown is always lively with lots of quirky restaurants, and lots of juniors and seniors live off campus so there is definitely a large social life outside of campus boundaries. Ithaca commons has those festivals straight out of Gilmore Girls, and the town itself is so beautiful and charming, and in the midst of balancing all your academics, social life, and rest, being surrounded by nature is really helpful for mental health. Before finals week, my friends and I went on a trail around the gorges just to take a break from studying, and I wouldn’t trade this memory for all the manhattan skyscrapers in the world. I know Cornell has a reputation for being a pressure cooker, but honestly it’s just because lots of people are pre-med and/or engineering which is a stressful track/major in itself that causes this image. True to some extent - but very exaggerated in the online community.
My personal opinion is that I have lots of opportunities in my future career to work in the city if I choose to do so, but when am I ever going to be able to experience a town like Ithaca with waterfalls (plural!)? I won’t lie and say I love everything about the extremely long bus rides (these are the actual worst haha), but I think it’s one of the things that unites Cornell students even after graduation. There’s already a spot on the slope overlooking west campus that my friends and I call “our spot.” Hope this helps!
@ehales3 Could you explain the application process and how was your experience with it?
Hi, I’m a rising senior looking into applying to Cornell. I know Cornell is obviously a very academically rigorous school, but could you talk about what the academic environment is like? I’ve heard some people say there’s a bit of a stress culture. Is it difficult to find time for things outside of academics and extracurriculars, or do you find yourself sacrificing solid sleep?
@alwayslikethis,
I applied to a lot of colleges, so it was definitely a challenging process. I had to manage my time for all my supplements. That being said, I loved and hated the process of writing all the essays. I think the college application process forces you to think about who you are as a student AND a person, and if you really embrace the process, then you learn a lot about yourself. Also, I like writing narrative essays, so I was kind of excited for interesting prompts. For Cornell specifically, I think it was a very standard application in line with its peer universities. I had to think a lot about it though, because I wasn’t applying to the same major for all universities. I don’t exactly remember all the details about the application process itself, but it is explained very well on the website. Hope this helps!
@emdecides,
Are you pre-med? If you are, let me know and I can discuss more on this. In general though, I think the “stress culture” is prevalent in any top university. People want to learn, take on workload, are ambitious, and want to succeed in their careers (not just “cruise through”). Hence, people push themselves. This can be intimidating, especially looking at upperclassmen, but lots of people want to help and be in it together (plus very confused freshman yr lol) so overall I think it only helps you to be better prepared out of college. However, I would say Cornell is a work hard play hard school. There are so many things to do on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Wednesdays have a bar night culture. That being said, on Sunday nights, many students are back in their dorms to prepare for Monday. People like to vent online, so the stress atmosphere is really exaggerated. The remoteness of Ithaca may make you feel more “trapped,” but in my opinion this is the same as feeling lost in the city. Hope this helps!
Despite it being in such a rural area, how progressive is the campus?
I’m not a current student, but I think the fact that so many students live in the blocks surrounding campus rather than on campus makes it less of a bubble, unless you consider Ithaca also part of the bubble. For the majority of students, they are off campus at some point daily, at least after the first year.
@barbthewarrior,
I’m not too heavily involved in political clubs/organizations, but due to how diverse the campus is, there are lots of open minded people. I’d say that I personally think the campus is much more left leaning, but I could be wrong. Students are generally respectful to different view points though, if you don’t agree with the general “liberal atmosphere,” as long as you are able to explain yourself. I had a really interesting political conversation back in February in a dining hall with a bunch of people with different values.
Hi @ehales3,
I am currently a rising high school sophomore that is interested in going into pre-med. If you don’t mind, could you share the extracurriculars that you did in high school? What summer programs(if any) did you do that helped your application?
Thanks,
N111ancy
Thank you so much!!!
@N111ancy,
I’ll PM you!
I got rejected from Cornell last year and I am planning on transferring. I am premed and really want to optimize my chances of getting in. Both human bio in Humec and Bio in CALS interest me. What do you think gives me a better shot ti get in? thanks
Hello! I’m planning to apply for the US universities and still kind of curious about majors. You mentioned that you take Biology/Society. Can you explain about it a bit more? Some people explained me that I need to take 1 major or to classify (If I don’t know) like “undecided”. I want to study Art/Psychology and can I do that? I mean I’m still getting in trouble with all university things, sorry??
Hi thanks for sharing, your replies are all very interesting. One question about social life -
I am wondering how typical it is to have a social life that is absent alcohol and hookup culture? Is it like - there will be some others interested in this and you just have to reach out and find them? Or is it commonplace enough that one would easily find fun social activities where alcohol was not involved? Same question about hookup culture - how common / expected is it?
@cheftony123,
I think it depends- do your ECs and demonstrated interests line up better with a humanitarian approach to bio (like nutrition, lifestyle, etc.)? Or did you focus on more hardcore science disciplines such as microbio? The former is more in line with HBHS in HumEc and the latter is more the traditional Biological Sciences in CALS. This is just my very limited opinion though, I’m by no means an admissions officer.
@Iunwuuu,
The Biology and Society (bsoc) major combines biological sciences as well as anthro, psych, history, ethics, etc. You can choose which way to you want to approach bio through electives- for instance, I want to approach it from a more historical viewpoint. More information about each major at cornell is on their website!
In terms of art and psychology, you can’t double major in these two areas because they are in different colleges within cornell. However, you can apply to the dual degree program and I think you can do both in 5 years, or create your own major? Unfortunately, I’m unsure about these two options because I don’t have any personal experience with them. However, most students interested in art and psychology choose to major in psych and minor in art, and this option is easily doable.
In terms of “choosing a major” in your college application, you aren’t locked into this major at cornell, so if your interests from now change a lot during the first couple years at the university, you can major in something else. If you don’t have any specific interests and want to explore all disciplines, you can put undecided, but if you’re going to do this I think it only really makes sense for Arts and Sciences? Sorry I can’t offer you a more clear answer, but I hope this helps at least a little!
@ShamrockLotus,
Hmm, this depends a lot on how much you like/dislike greek life. If you want to go to a lot of parties, then at least for the initial year at Cornell this is mostly through greek life which involves drinking. In this sense, you may have to reach out to find people interested in doing other things, and since there are many students at the university, this shouldn’t be too challenging. However, I think there’s a general consensus that as you transition upwards, many people choose to distance themselves from the crazy greek life culture and find social life through house parties, gatherings, going to Syracuse (if you have a friend who has a car), etc., and the whole “you need to drink to have fun” dies down. Anyone who thinks otherwise can feel free to correct me on this though, because I’m a rising sophomore and I haven’t actually experienced life as a junior/senior yet. I don’t think hookup culture’s super prevalent, but I suppose drama is always there if you look for it. Personally, I had a gossip-free year just making friends and mostly hanging out in someone’s dorm (some ppl chose to drink, some didn’t, nobody really cared), with a few parties after big exams. Hope this helps!